Initial experience in sentinel lymph node detection in pancreatic cancer

The accuracy of sentinel node biopsy by 99mTc-sodium phytate in patients with pancreatic cancer

Backgrounds/Aims

Pancreaticoduodenectomy is the only potentially curative treatment for pancreatic cancer. The identification of the first nodal drainage site (sentinel node) may improve the detection of metastatic nodes and can contribute to a less invasive surgery. We aimed to determine the accuracy of sentinel node mapping in patients with pancreatic cancer using intraoperative radiotracer injection technique.

Methods

At surgical exposure, peritumoral injection of 0.4-0.5 mci/0.5 ml of 99mTc- sodium phytate was performed. After tumor resection, sentinel nodes were investigated in the most common areas using a hand-held gamma probe. Any lymph node with in vivo count twice the background was considered as sentinel node, thus, it was removed and sent for pathological assessment. Then a standard lymph node dissection was performed for all patients.

Results

Fourteen patients with cancer in the head of the pancreas were included in this study. Overall, 180 lymph nodes were harvested with a mean of 11.6±4.7 lymph nodes per patient. In eight patients, at least one sentinel node could be identified (detection rate about 64%). False negative rate of the study was 3/5 (60%).

Conclusions

Our study revealed insufficient diagnostic accuracy and high false negative rate for sentinel lymph node mapping with 99mTc- sodium phytate in pancreatic cancer.

99mTc-labeled nanocolloid drugs: development methods

The work considers the problem of obtaining nanocolloid radiopharmaceuticals (RPs) and studying their functional suitability for diagnosing sentinel lymph nodes (SLN) in cancer patients. Two principal approaches to the formation of technetium-99m-labeled particles based on inorganic and organic matrices were considered when carrying out research to develop methods for the production of nanocolloid RPs. The composition of the reagents and the conditions for obtaining nanocolloid radiopharmaceuticals were determined. The functional suitability of new RPs for scintigraphic diagnostics of sentinel lymph nodes has been studied.